US Announces $4.5 Billion in Direct Budgetary Aid for Ukraine

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced Tuesday an additional $4.5 billion in direct budgetary aid for the Ukrainian government.

Yellen said that the new funds will bring total US budgetary aid for Ukraine to $13 billion, and more is coming as Ukraine expects the US to help pay for its massive budget deficit in 2023.

The aid is being disbursed by the US through the World Bank. According to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the funds will be sent to Ukraine in two tranches before the end of 2022.

The budgetary aid is meant to fund Ukrainian government services, but it’s not clear if there’s any oversight regarding how the money is spent. Before Russia’s February 24th invasion, the US and its Western allies would cite Ukraine’s corruption as a reason why the country couldn’t join NATO or the EU, but those concerns seemed to have waned.

A group of House Republicans led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) introduced a bill last week to audit all US aid to Ukraine. The bill will likely get voted down by Democrats, but Greene said she would reintroduce the bill when Republicans have the majority in the House after the new Congress is sworn in this January.

The White House is looking for Congress to authorize a new Ukraine aid package worth $37.7 billion during the lame-duck period, which would bring total US spending on the war to about $105 billion. Included in the requested spending bill is $14.5 billion in direct budgetary aid.

Source: Antiwar

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave. View all posts by Dave DeCamp

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